July Wrap Up 2017

Let’s talk about writing first. I am super excited to be participating in the second season of Write India. It’s a short story writing competition where for the next few months, a renowned Indian author will give a prompt and we have to write and send a short story within the given time period. I wanted to participate in the first season but I couldn’t, thanks to studies. But now that I am trying to build my own writing career, I decided to take part this year. I have sent my first short story for the competition and am very happy with my work. Now, let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. To know more about the competition, click here.

Ok, now let’s talk about reading. This month I read four books, which is not bad compared to last month. All thanks to the re-read of Christie book, as it brought me out of my reading slump and helped me read the other three books. So here are the books I read this month –

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is the cure to any problem I have. Whenever I read her novels, I am simply transported to the setting in the book and am seeing everything along with my buddy Hercule Poirot. The same thing happened when I started reading Death on the Nile. And since I love the ancient Egypt, it was like two targets with one arrow. I am always amazed how Agatha Christie is able to weave people and their psychology together with a murder mystery. It always a pleasure to a Christie novel.

I had expected more from this book but still this was a good read. The concept of being born again and again until you’ve achieved what you are destined to was interesting enough to draw me to this book. I just wish I had enjoyed the end a bit more.

This book was a fun read. Since this was my first James Patterson novel, I am happy that I had a good experience. The two cases – kidnapping of President’s kids and the terrorist plot – were both equally intense and made me on my toes all the time. I would have liked if the terrorist plot was more delved with and given a proper end. Also, it would have been better if the title was different as this one doesn’t work with the plot.

This book was one of the surprise reads for me. I wished that I had picked up this book earlier. But I am also happy that I read this book now because this was the right time to read it. The one word that comes to my mind when I think about this book is subtle. The plot was subtle. The writing was subtle. The characters were subtle. I also enjoyed the subtle art of planning and killing people presented in the book. But don’t let the subtlety make you believe that this book is no fun. This book is an absolute blast and has tremendous impact on me. And for sure, this book is not for the faint hearted. Some scene are pretty gruesome. All in all, I loved this book.